Opportunity knocks for JC native

Hope Driskill (back row, far left) will be a member of the Gota tribe when the new season of Survivor begins Wednesday. (CBS publicity photo)
Hope Driskill (back row, far left) will be a member of the Gota tribe when the new season of Survivor begins Wednesday. (CBS publicity photo)

Hope Driskill may be in Milan, Italy, for a modeling job, but nothing will stop the Jefferson City native from watching the twohour season premiere of "Survivor: Caramoan-Fans vs. Favorites" at 7 p.m. Wednesday on CBS.

"I'm probably going to have to stay up all night because it'll be about 3 in the morning here," Driskill said.

Driskill is one of 20 castaways on the 26th season of "Survivor," which features first-timers competing against returning players. Driskill is a first-timer.

The season was filmed on one of the Caramoan Islands in the Philippines, known as a "secret paradise."

Driskill, 23, was crowned Miss Missouri in 2010 and competed in the Miss USA Pageant in Las Vegas in 2011. "I've just had the most wonderful opportunities," Driskill said. "I've gotten to travel and see the world and meet new people. I've gotten to do some of the coolest things. "Survivor definitely tops the list." Although Driskill couldn't talk about her experience on the reality television show, she said she did go into the competition with a strategy, one that stems from her undergraduate degree in political science and pre-law from the University of Missouri.

"It kind of helped me in a sense because my entire college career was classes on strategy and thinking and critical thinking," Driskill said. "The game of "Survivor' has so much to do with that. It's kind of a social game. It's how you deal with others."

The "Survivor" season was filmed last summer, after Driskill graduated from college in May.

She said in the fall, she traveled to New York and modeled for a short time before she signed with a modeling agency in Milan, which is where she is now.

"I've had numerous different jobs and photo shoots," Driskill said of Milan. "I've gotten to work with some incredible people here. Fashion Week will be at the end of February, and then I will be heading back to the states."

Then, she said her next task is figuring out where she wants to attend law school in the fall.

When asked where she sees herself after law school, Driskill didn't have a definitive answer. She said she never thought she'd be where she is today.

"If anyone had asked me two years ago what I'd be doing after graduation, I would've had no idea," she said. "I guarantee I would have never thought I would be traveling to Italy or filming "Survivor.'"

"When opportunities come, it's my personality to just take them."

"Survivor: Caramoan-Fans vs. Favorites" premiers at 7 p.m. Wednesday on CBS (locally on KRCG).